Is God trustworthy?

Interesting question, isn't it? Some of you probably think it's a stupid question saying 'of course He is', others perhaps are struggling as your faith in God's goodness has been shaken by painful losses or disapointments.

Whether your faith in God is solid or shaky, I believe this question of God's trustworthiness to be irrelevent. It's almost like asking is air breathable? God is God, and there is not one person on this planet who can change Him or His nature.

The more relevent question is: Is my picture of God trustworthy? Or is my picture of His grace trustworthy? Is my picture of His wrath trustworthy? How have my primary influences and life experiences moulded my picture of Him? So many influences can skew our vision of who God really is...

Each of us have been raised in different enviroments that have formed our unique view of God. Our picture may be influenced by our wealth or our poverty, our balanced or dysfunctional families, by our present or absent fathers and mothers, the beliefs of our parents and piers, the Catholic or Protestant churches we attend, from the Orthodox to Pentecostal teachings we have come to believe, and experiences that confirm or contradict our beliefs. As a result each one of us has painted a very unique portrait of who God is.

So when God fails to meet our skewed vision of who He is, does our faith in Him crumble? When we loose wealth, health or loved ones, is God no longer good? When our most sincere and passionate prayers are not answered, do we loose our passion to pray? When we follow His leading and our lives become shipwrecked, is He no longer trustworthy to follow?

From this vantage point, it's interesting to study characters of the Bible. From Abraham to Moses, David to Joseph, Peter to Paul, each life showed a dedication to follow God. Did any of these men have a perfectly clear understanding of who God was? I think not. Did they at anytime loose faith in God and His promises? I think so. Did any of them fully comprehend the path God was leading them on? Certainly not. Did they experience pain, disapointment and loss while trusting and following God? Most certainly they did.

So why did these men go on? I believe the recognised that they only see a small part of who God really is. They recognised that their vision of Him is skewed and incomplete. They did not trust their picture of God, but chose to trust a God they could not see or fully comprehend.

As i've said once before, we people seem to be visually impaired. What we see and feel impairs us in believing and trusting in what is unseen. Truly we only see a small part of it all, as Paul expressed so well in 1 Cor 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known

Remember, there's alot more than ever meets our eyes...

Ashes and sackcloth

Having returned to Europe last week, just days before the continent was blanketed with volcanic ash, i've once again realised how dependant we have become on our own technology, the product fo our wisdom, and how ignorant we have become of the power of nature, how in an instant it can radically change our plans and our lives.

Man in his great wisdom has accomplished great feats of technology, from the telephone to wireless communication systems, from the bicycle to flight in the skies and beyond. Yet in one breath, from the nostrels of the earth our great accomplishment of air travel was forced to stand still.

We count the cost of how many billions of dollars are lost each day, how many millions of people are inconvenienced or stranded, how many thousands of flights have been cancelled, yet we don't count the one who holds the whole world in His hands.

So, if God is really in control, why does He allow the earth to disrupt our plans? Maybe He's trying to show us something. Someone once said "Best way to make God laugh is tell Him you have plans". We indeed have plans, big plans, profitable plans, selfish plans...

Last week millions of people's plans were disrupted by one volcano. But disrupted plans are nothing new to most of us. We learn to adjust our plans, modify our plans, have contingency plans,.. yet we never give up our plans.

Perhaps there is a time we need to give up our plans, to realise our plans, our technology, our solutions are so small and feeble in comparison to God's ways. to come to the realisation we cannot rely on our own wisdom, our own strength, our own ways, but to humble ourselves before The Creator and say 'our plans fail us, Your will be done'.

We are certainly living in interesting times. I believe much more will be shaken, and much more will crumble, but what stands on a strong foundation will withstand the storms that lie ahead. It is a time to prepare, it is a time to share, it is a time to help others, it is a time to put all our trust in our God and Creator.